File actions

Important

To prevent unauthorized access, Windows requires administrator rights to access protected files. To access these resources using the file actions, run Power Automate with administrator rights. For more information about running Power Automate as an administrator, go to Run Power Automate with elevated rights.

Handling files and their content is essential for most automation scenarios. You can use the file actions to manage files, retrieve their properties, read and write data, and convert them to other types.

Most file actions require paths that specify the files you want to manipulate. These paths can be hard-coded values or file datatype variables.

Note

To provide many files as input, use a list variable with file items. A method to create a list of files is the Get files in folder action.

Similarly, you can populate a hard-coded value or a folder datatype variable to specify a destination folder in the actions that need one.

Some file actions provide an extensive configuration, allowing you to automate virtually any scenario. For example, the Rename file(s) action includes options to set a new name or add, replace or remove a text string to the existing file name.

To append text content or overwrite text files, deploy the Write text to file action. To read the content of a text file, use the Read text from file action.

Likewise, if you need to read or write content to CSV files, use the Read from CSV file and Write to CSV file actions. You can find an example desktop flow that handles CSV files in Convert a CSV file into an Excel spreadsheet.

If you want to check if a file exists in a specific folder, use the If file exists action. This action is a conditional and allows you to run different blocks of code depending on whether the file exists. To find more information about conditionals, go to Use conditionals.

If file exists

Marks the beginning of a conditional block of actions depending on whether a file exists or not.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
If file	N/A	Exists, Doesn't exist	Exists	The state of the file to check
File path	No	File		The full path to look for the file

Variables produced

This action doesn't produce any variables.

Exceptions

This action doesn't include any exceptions.

Wait for file

Suspend the execution of the automation until a file is created or deleted.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
Wait for file to be	N/A	Created, Deleted	Created	Specifies whether to pause the flow on the creation or deletion of a certain file
File path	No	File		The full path to look for the file

Variables produced

This action doesn't produce any variables.

Exceptions

This action doesn't include any exceptions.

Copy file(s)

Copy one or more files into a destination folder.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File(s) to copy	No	List of Files		The file(s) to copy. This value can be a file path, or a variable containing a file, a list of files, a text path, or a list of text paths. Use the 'Get files in folder' action to populate a variable with a list of files.
Destination folder	No	Folder		The destination folder for the copied files
If file exists	N/A	Do nothing, Overwrite	Do nothing	Specifies what to do if a file with the same name already exists in the destination folder

Variables produced

Argument	Type	Description
CopiedFiles	List of Files	The copied file(s) as a list of files

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Source folder doesn't exist	Indicates that the source folder doesn't exist
Destination folder doesn't exist	Indicates that the destination folder doesn't exist
File not found	Indicates that the file doesn't exist
Can't copy file	Indicates a problem copying the file

Move file(s)

Move one or more files into a destination folder.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File(s) to move	No	List of Files		The file(s) to move. This value can be a file path, or a variable containing a file, a list of files, a textual path, or a list of text paths. Use the 'Get files in folder' action to populate a variable with a list of files.
Destination folder	No	Folder		The destination folder for the moved files
If file exists	N/A	Do nothing, Overwrite	Do nothing	Specifies what to do if a file with the same name already exists in the destination folder

Variables produced

Argument	Type	Description
MovedFiles	List of Files	The moved file(s) as a list of files

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Source folder doesn't exist	Indicates that the source folder doesn't exist
Destination folder doesn't exist	Indicates that the destination folder doesn't exist
File not found	Indicates that the file doesn't exist
Can't move file	Indicates a problem moving the file

Delete file(s)

Delete one or more files.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File(s) to delete	No	List of Files		The file(s) to delete. This value can be a file path, or a variable containing a file, a list of files, a text path, or a list of text paths. Use the 'Get files in folder' to populate a variable with a list of files

Variables produced

This action doesn't produce any variables.

Exceptions

Exception	Description
File path doesn't exist	Indicates that the file path doesn't exist
File not found	Indicates that the file doesn't exist
Can't delete file	Indicates a problem deleting the file

Rename file(s)

Change the name of one or more files.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File to rename	No	List of Files		The file(s) to rename. This value can be a file path, or a variable containing a file, a list of files, a text path, or a list of text paths. Use the 'Get files in folder' action to populate a variable with a list of files.
Add number to	N/A	Boolean value	True	Specifies whether to add the number to the existing file name(s) or a new name
Rename scheme	N/A	Set new name, Add text, Remove text, Replace text, Change extension, Add datetime, Make sequential	Set new name	Specifies how to rename the file(s)
New file name	No	Text value		The new name of the file(s)
New extension	Yes	Text value		The text to add as the new extension for the file(s)
New file name	No	Text value		The new name of the file(s)
Add number to	N/A	After name, Before name	After name	Specifies whether to add the number before or after the original name(s) or a new base name
Text to add	Yes	Text value		The text to add to the original file name(s)
Text to remove	Yes	Text value		The text to remove from the original file name(s). This rename scheme searches each file name, and removes the entered text anywhere in the name, each time it occurs.
Text to replace	No	Text value		The text to replace in the original file name(s). This rename scheme searches each file name, and replaces the entered text anywhere in the name, each time it occurs
Use custom datetime	N/A	Boolean value	False	Specifies whether to use a custom datetime
Datetime to add	N/A	Current datetime, Creation time, Last accessed, Last modified	Current datetime	Specifies what datetime value to add to the file name(s)
Keep extension	N/A	Boolean value	True	Specifies whether to include the previous extension with the file name(s). Disable this option to add the extension to the file(s) manually.
Replace with	Yes	Text value		The text to replace the original text with
Start numbering at	No	Numeric value		The starting number value
Add text	N/A	After name, Before name	After name	Specifies whether to add the text before or after the original name(s)
Custom datetime	No	Datetime		The datetime to add to the file name(s)
Increment by	No	Numeric value		The number to increment the starting value by
Add datetime	N/A	After name, Before name	After name	Specifies whether to add the datetime before or after the original name(s)
Separator	N/A	Nothing, Space, Dash, Period, Underscore	Space	Specifies what to use to separate the original file name and the number added, including the option to not use a separator
Separator	N/A	Nothing, Space, Dash, Period, Underscore	Space	Specifies what to use to separate the original file name and the datetime value added, including the option to not use a separator
Use padding	N/A	Boolean value	False	Specifies whether to use padding
Datetime format	No	Text value	yyyyMMdd	The format of the datetime value to add to the file name, such as MM/dd/yyyy for date, and hh:mm:sstt for time
Make each number at least	Yes	Numeric value	3	The minimum length for each number added
If file exists	N/A	Do nothing, Overwrite	Do nothing	Specifies what to do if a file with the same name already exists in the folder

Variables produced

Argument	Type	Description
RenamedFiles	List of Files	The renamed file(s) as a list of files

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Directory not found	Indicates that the directory wasn't found
File not found	Indicates that the file doesn't exist
Can't rename file	Indicates a problem renaming the file

Read text from file

Read the contents of a text file.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File path	No	File		The file to read
Store content as	N/A	Single text value, List (each is a list item)	Single text value	Specifies how to store the text. Choose 'Single text value' to store the entire text as a single text value. Choose 'List' to store each line of the original text as a text item in a list.
Encoding	N/A	System default, ASCII, Unicode, Unicode (big-endian), UTF-8	UTF-8	The encoding to read the specified text from the text file with.

Variables produced

Argument	Type	Description
FileContents	Text value	The contents as a text
FileContents	List of Text values	The contents as a list of texts

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Directory not found	Indicates that the directory wasn't found
File not found	Indicates that the file doesn't exist
Failed to read from file	Indicates a problem reading from the file

Write text to file

Write or appends text to a file.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File path	No	File		The file to write the text. This value can be a file path, or a variable containing a file or a textual path.
Text to write	Yes	General value		The text to write in the specified file
Append new line	N/A	Boolean value	True	Specifies whether to append a new line at the end of the overall text to write to the file
If file exists	N/A	Overwrite existing content, Append content	Overwrite existing content	Specifies whether to overwrite the existing content, or to append to the end of the existing content. If the file doesn't exist, this action automatically creates it.
Encoding	N/A	System default, ASCII, Unicode, Unicode (big-endian), UTF-8, Unicode (without byte order mask), UTF-8 (without byte order mask)	Unicode	The encoding to use for the specified text to write into the text file

Variables produced

This action doesn't produce any variables.

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Failed to write text to file	Indicates a problem writing to the file
Invalid directory for file	Indicates that the directory is invalid

Read from CSV file

Read a CSV file into a data table.

You can use the Read from CSV file action to create a datatable variable with the file's contents. You need to define the path to the CSV file and the encoding to use for reading it, while you can also trim any whitespaces from the extracted cells, handle the first line as column headers, and specify the columns separator.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File path	No	File		The CSV file to read. This value can be a file path, or a variable containing a file or a textual path
Encoding	N/A	UTF-8, Unicode, Unicode (big-endian), UTF-8 (No byte order mark), Unicode (no byte order mark), System default, ASCII	UTF-8	The encoding to be used for reading the specified CSV file
Trim fields	N/A	Boolean value	True	Specifies whether to automatically trim off the leading and trailing whitespaces of the extracted cells
First line contains column names	N/A	Boolean value	False	Specifies whether to use the first row of the CSV resource to set the column names of the resulting data table variant. Enable this option to avoid reading the names as data into the table. Subsequent actions may access the data held by the data table using column names (instead of column numbers).
Columns separator	N/A	Predefined, Custom, Fixed column widths	Predefined	Specifies whether to use a predefined columns separator, a custom one or fixed column widths
Separator	N/A	System default, Comma, Semicolon, Tab	System default	The column-separator to parse the CSV file
Custom separator	No	Text value		The custom column-separator to use for parsing the CSV resource specified
Fixed column widths	No	Text value		The fixed column-widths to use for parsing the CSV resource specified. Separate the widths using commas, spaces, tabs or newlines.

Variables produced

Argument	Type	Description
CSVTable	Datatable	The contents of the CSV file as a data table

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Read from CSV failed	Indicates a problem reading from the CSV file

Write to CSV file

Write a data table, data row or list to a CSV file.

Use the Write to CSV file action to write a data table, data row or list variable to a target CSV file. In the File path parameter, specify the file path or variable containing a file or textual path where the data will be exported to.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
Variable to write	No	General value		The data table, data row variable or list variable to write into the target CSV file
File path	No	File		The CSV file to export the variable to. This value can be a file path, or a variable containing a file or a textual path.
Encoding	N/A	UTF-8, Unicode, Unicode (big-endian), UTF-8 (No byte order mark), Unicode (no byte order mark), System default, ASCII	UTF-8	The encoding to use for writing to the specified CSV file
Include column names	N/A	Boolean value	False	Specifies whether the column names of the variant specified should become the first row of the CSV file. This option takes effect if and only if the target CSV file either doesn't initially exist or exists but is otherwise empty of text.
If file exists	N/A	Overwrite existing content, Append content	Overwrite existing content	Specifies the desired behavior when the targeted CSV file already exists in the filesystem
Separator	N/A	System default, Comma, Semicolon, Tab	System default	The column separator to use in the specified CSV file
Custom columns separator	No	Text value		The custom column separator to use in the CSV file
Use custom columns separator	N/A	Boolean value	False	Specifies whether to use a custom columns separator or a predefined one

Variables produced

This action doesn't produce any variables.

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Write failed	Indicates a problem writing to the CSV file

Get file path part

Retrieve one or more parts (directory, filename, extension, etc.) from a text that represents a file path.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File path	No	File		The file path to use as the source

Variables produced

Argument	Type	Description
RootPath	File	The root path of the source file
Directory	Folder	The directory of the source file
FileName	Text value	The name of the source file
FileNameNoExtension	Text value	The file name (without the extension) of the source file
FileExtension	Text value	The extension (for example, .doc) of the source file

Exceptions

Exception	Description
File path contains invalid characters	Indicates that the file path doesn't exist

Get temporary file

Create a uniquely named, empty temporary file on disk, and get the file object (which is a representation, and can access the file and all its information).

Input parameters

This action doesn't require any input.

Variables produced

Argument	Type	Description
TempFile	File	The temporary file object

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Failed to create temporary file	Indicates a problem creating a temporary file

Convert file to Base64

Convert a file to Base64 encoded text.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File path	No	File		The file path to read from

Variables produced

Argument	Type	Description
Base64Text	Text value	The Base64 encoded text

Exceptions

Exception	Description
File not found	Indicates that the file doesn't exist
Can't convert file to Base64	Indicates that the provided file can't be converted into Base64 encoded text

Convert Base64 to file

Convert a Base64 encoded text to file.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
Base64 encoded text	No	Text value		The Base64 encoded text
File path	No	File		The file to write to
If file exists	N/A	Do nothing, Overwrite	Do nothing	Specifies what to do if a file with the same name already exists in the destination folder

Variables produced

This action doesn't produce any variables.

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Invalid directory for file	Indicates that the directory is invalid
Can't convert Base64 to file	Indicates that the provided Base64 encoded text can't be converted into a file

Convert file to binary data

Convert a file to binary data.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
File path	No	File		The file to read from

Variables produced

Argument	Type	Description
BinaryData	Text value	The binary data to write

Exceptions

Exception	Description
File not found	Indicates that the file doesn't exist
Can't convert file to binary data	Indicates that the provided file can't be converted to binary data

Convert binary data to file

Convert binary data to file.

Input parameters

Argument	Optional	Accepts	Default Value	Description
Binary data	No	Text value		The binary data
File path	No	File		The file to write to
If file exists	N/A	Do nothing, Overwrite	Do nothing	Specifies what to do if a file with the same name already exists in the destination folder

Variables produced

This action doesn't produce any variables.

Exceptions

Exception	Description
Invalid directory for file	Indicates that the directory is invalid
Can't convert binary file to file	Indicates that the provided binary data can't be converted into a file